I love it when someone could not give a fig about how he is perceived. It’s especially remarkable in this airbrushed era, where perfection is revered and self-appointed gurus gush about “the secret” that will save us – from the gluttony of the Hummer, the melting of polar caps, the iron-jaw glare of the sinister Posh.

The whole mess is depressing, but less so after reading Steve Almond’s “(Not That You Asked).” Here, a reader can find a host of verities. Some are deeply reflective and seeded with reportage, such as the author’s worship of Kurt Vonnegut. Equal parts lit-crit, biography, memoir and culture study, the essay is a jewel and led me to believe similarly high-minded works would follow.

They do and, thankfully, do not. That’s because these essays weave together the bookish with the lowbrow, so a look at protest and war is folded between riffs on Tesla, or why hot wax applied to a “chestfro” is not as sexy as imagined.

Almond whips himself as harshly as he does others. He is as eager for praise and understanding as any of us, and he sets about acquiring these in humiliating ways – all of which he details at his own expense.

“Dear Oprah,” for example, is a series of one-way fantasy letters that begins with the author’s fury at the “world’s leading retailer of inspiration … the Wal-Mart of Hope.” Knife in hand, Almond eviscerates Winfrey for her silence on “the young Americans snuffed over in Iraq” and for her role as a “zillionaire narcissist.”

After a chat with his publishing house, he backpedals. In subsequent, sellout missives, Almond lauds the O’s power to entice people to read, to consider the challenges of menopause, to celebrate a makeup kit.

Realizing his book might be bought by millions, his kissing up knows no bounds, and he depicts each smooch without a flinch. It’s all a sly chronicle of how a writer, or any artist, will quick-flip from creator to marketeer as he reaches for commercial triumph.

In “How Reality Television Ate My Life,” Almond’s ego furthers its sabotage. He agrees to appear on VH1’s “Totally Obsessed.” His vice: candy. What ensues is a rather hilarious tale laced with caramels and Smarties and the growing realization he has invited everything he despises into his life.

Almond does not execute all of his confessions with grace. There are times when he errs on the sides of sentimentality or slavish fixation. The former can be seen in the too-studied ending of “Demagogue Days,” an account of his politics and of his public resignation as an adjunct professor at Boston College. The latter is illustrated in “Death by Lobster Pad Thai,” which evokes the delightful ghost of Annie Hall even as it goes on for far too long about the joys and horrors of feasting on crustaceans.

In the final sequence of essays, about marriage, fatherhood and family, Almond offers the right portions of his softening heart and his big and blistering brain.

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